The pair were locked together at 3-3, but O’Donnell, who had never been past the first round before, took the seventh and eighth frames, the latter with a break of 90, before clinching victory in the 10th.

He told Eurosport: “The UK Championship is the biggest tournament of the season, my record here has been absolutely appalling. [It’s] definitely the biggest win of my career.”

Asked about Friday’s impending clash with O’Sullivan, O’Donnell told the BBC: “He could beat me 6-0, but I will enjoy it. If I get chances, I will have to take them. Let’s see what happens.”

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Kyren Wilson made the last eight at the tournament for the first time after surging to a 6-2 win over Barry Hawkins.

The pair went into the mid-session break tied at 2-2, but it was Wilson who returned in dominant form, racking up breaks of 95, 78, 81 and 61 to win four successive frames.

He told Eurosport: “I feel like I belong in the top 16, I’m slowly creeping up on the top eight now and I feel like that’s where the real elite is and I’m knocking on the door of that.

“There are many good players left in, but I’m not bad myself, so it’s going to be an exciting tournament.”

Stuart Bingham is also into the last eight of the UK Championship (Richard Sellers/PA)

Wilson’s reward with a quarter-final showdown with Stuart Bingham, who beat a luckless Sunny Akani 6-2.

Bingham led 4-0 at the interval with breaks of 117 and 81 in the first two frames and, although Akani pegged him back to 5-2 and might have reduced the deficit further had he not run out of position on the green in the eighth frame, edged his way home.